1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a drawing apparatus configured to perform drawing on a substrate with a plurality of charged particle beams.
2. Description of the Related Art
A drawing apparatus for drawing a pattern on a substrate using a plurality of charged particle beams includes, for example, an aperture array for dividing a charged particle beam emitted by a charged particle source into a plurality of charged particle beams, an electrostatic lens array, a blanker array, a blanking aperture array, etc. There is a limitation on accuracy in aligning corresponding apertures with respect each other between these elements. To handle this difficulty, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 09-245708 discloses a drawing apparatus having a deflector array to adjust positions of respective charged particle beams such that the charged particle beams hit correct positions on a substrate. More specifically, in the drawing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 09-245708, the deflector array shifts the charged particle beams in parallel such that an image of the charged particle source is formed by each charged particle beam at a predetermined position on the substrate. To drive this deflector array, a plurality of devices (such as digital-analog converters) for supplying potentials (electric potentials) are connected to respective electrodes of the deflector array.
In such a drawing apparatus, its throughput may be increased by increasing the number of charged particle beams used in drawing. However, the increase in the number of charged particle beams results in an increase in the number of electrodes included in the deflector array, and it is necessary to increase the number of devices for applying potentials to the respective electrodes. This may result in an increase in production cost of the drawing apparatus and an increase in necessary installation area size.